Question for UKers

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  • Fatgonegirl
    Fatgonegirl Posts: 126 Member
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    I use kg and g for everything but human body weight for which I use stones and lbs. I use m & cm for everything but human height where I use feet and inches. My scales can measure in either stones & lbs or kg but not just lbs. I don't know anyone, no matter their age who uses kg or lbs for human body weight, everyone uses stones and lbs. I also use Celsius not Fahrenheit and miles not km.

    I don't know why but I like stones and lbs, I would be sad if we stopped using them. Perhaps it is just a sign of getting older?
  • Bella_Figura
    Bella_Figura Posts: 3,800 Member
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    I have digital scales which allow you to flip between stones and pounds, pounds only, or kgs. I weigh in kgs but that makes me unusual for someone my age (56) - most folks age 50+ weigh in stones & pounds. My health care background accounts for the kgs, but I can convert to stones in a heartbeat, and visualise weight in both ‘currencies’. By the same token I think of myself as both 1.55m and 5’1”. I’m bilingual 😝.

    Temps (weather and cooking) I measure in Celsius but can convert mentally to Fahrenheit. I weigh food in grams. I cycle/walk in kms and drive in miles. I’m bilingual in terms of liquids - can visualise both pints and litres.

    When Americans refer to liquids in ‘quarts’ and ‘ounces’ I get totally lost...
  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,365 Member
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    SnifterPug wrote: »
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    ythannah wrote: »
    When we moved from the UK we brought an analogue scale that measured in stone. It's probably still in the basement of my dad's house. His favourite practical joke when visitors used the bathroom and, of course, hopped on this weird scale was to tell them a stone was 15 lbs.

    It’s early, and I may not be properly awake but can someone please explain the joke here? A stone is 14lbs rather than 15 obviously but I can’t see that the difference is enough to make it practical joke worthy. 🤔

    Well, I guess it's because average weights are anything from 8 stone upwards. If you thought you weighed 140lb (to keep the maths easy) and hopped on the scale to find it said 10 stone you would be pretty annoyed to find that you weighed 150lb.

    Maybe this had the useful practical effect of stopping the visitors eating all the chocolates and drinking all the wine!

    Exactly, He kept the number small enough to be credible but still a bit disconcerting. You'd have known he was pulling your leg if he'd told you a number that inflated your weight by 20 lbs but your clothing didn't feel any tighter. A sudden 10 lb jump is more believable.

    I probably should have mentioned it was always women who asked. If men were trying out the scale they kept quiet about it.

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